T-Mobile concludes first team meeting

By Susan Westemeyer The T-Mobile Team for 2008 has ended its first team meeting. The 29 riders and...

By Susan Westemeyer

The T-Mobile Team for 2008 has ended its first team meeting. The 29 riders and staff met in Cologne, Germany, for two days earlier this week. "It's been a successful camp with everything geared around getting the team off to a great start to the new season," said the team's general manager, Bob Stapleton.

One point of the camp was to introduce everyone to each other, since there are 11 new riders and 18 returning riders. "The camp was a chance to welcome the new faces and we added some fun group interaction exercises to help build team spirit," said Stapleton on the team's website, t-mobile-team.com.

As usual, there were many individual and group meetings. "We set clear individual goals for the riders and we set clear team goals," Stapleton indicated. "Each rider knows their key objectives for the first half of 2008." The riders also underwent the usual medical monitoring and doping testing.

The team will gather again on Mallorca for a training camp on January 5. The team's first race follows shortly thereafter with the Tour Down Under, which is now a ProTour race and starts on January 14.